Tiffany’s fans can thank her son for her decision to go back on the road.

“A lot of people don’t know I have a 24-year-old son who finished college,” the former teen pop star said. “He’s off doing his life. It kind of led me back into mine.”

The singer, who is 45, brings her “A Million Miles: The Storyteller Tour” to Orlando on Wednesday, Feb. 1, and Thursday, Feb. 2.

“I treat every show with the intimacy of you’re in my living room,” Tiffany said.

She started doing home concerts — jam nights with friends — last year in Nashville, where she has lived eight years.

“I really enjoyed it because people got to see me be me. If you can go on the road and it be like this, that would be a lot of fun,” said the singer born Tiffany Darwish. “We do actually take requests. Hopefully they’re my songs, cause my band is working overtime to learn all of my stuff.”

Those songs include “I Think We’re Alone Now,” her cover of the Tommy James & the Shondells classic, from 1987, when she gained fame by performing in shopping malls. Other hits include “Could’ve Been” and “All This Time.”

“People do think I was a one-hit wonder, that I’m maybe not the kind of singer that I can really be -- that impression is there. I have to work really hard to break down those walls,” she said. “Music is my life.”

The album “A Million Miles,” which came out last year, puts her back in big-ballad territory that lets her show her range.

“For a long time I didn’t want to do that, because it is something [where] you have to be pretty disciplined,” she said. “You have to show up with the voice. Otherwise, you’re in big trouble. To just be able to sing and show off the chops is kind of why I got into the music industry. And now writing songs around that.”

The intimate concerts, with five people onstage, are different from her big, retro shows, but she still sings her hits.

“I’m never not going on a stage and not sing my hits,” she said. “I’m very grateful to have those.”

In the smaller concerts, she also can perform songs by Joni Mitchell and Janis Ian, whose “At Seventeen” is a favorite. Tiffany may tell a back story about a song, and she calls Tommy James an inspiration. She passes out shakers to the audience.

“I am an old soul, I do know so much about music history,” Tiffany said. “I don’t let the walls or hurdles get me down. I know my talent, I know this is something I’m committed to.”

In Nashville, she said she is constantly writing and producing songs and listening to musicians “who’ve been pushing me a little bit to experiment with music and have fun with it.” She also runs her own management company with a style she calls hands-on.

Tiffany said she has been inspired by Bette Midler, Dolly Parton and Cher, people who can do a bit of everything.

Tiffany also speaks fondly of posing nude for Playboy in 2002. “I’m very happy I did it. I was a little shaky when I did it. I was going through a divorce,” she said. “When I am 80, I’m going to be like ‘that was an awesome experience.’ I was in the best shape ever.”

At Parliament House, she can connect with her gay fans. “They accept me as a mom and wife, they accept my failures,” she said. “I write about just living life. My gay audience is definitely out there living life to the fullest. They get my lyrics. We’ve had a connection for a long time.”

She urges the audience to come prepared to sing and rock out.

“Music should be fun. If it’s not fun, then you’re going to get burned out, you’re not going to give the best show,” she said. “My fans don’t deserve that.”

Her son, by the way, is a structural engineer,

“He’s totally doing his own thing,” she said. “We’re completely different, separate people. He’s a great kid. I couldn’t be more proud.”